THE STRANGE CASE OF
"MARGERY"The Mystery of Houdini's Greatest Nemesis

Exhibits in the Haunted
Museum are based on the work of Troy Taylor from his
book, Ghosts by Gaslight!

Click on the Cover for More About the Book!

Mina Crandon, best known as “Margery”, was a Boston
medium who found herself embroiled in one of the most bitter controversies
in American psychic research. Her followers claimed that she was one of the
greatest mediums who ever lived, while her critics called her a fraud and
blamed her for almost bringing paranormal research in America to an end. Her
heyday came about during the decline of mediumship in America and perhaps
for this reason, more blame has fallen on her than she deserves. Regardless
though, she was perhaps the greatest rival of magician Harry Houdini as he
was involved in his crusade against fraudulent mediums and their bitter
sparring and debates almost damaged his career beyond recognition as well.

Mina Crandon was born in Ontario in 1888 and moved to
Boston when she was 16. A few years after that, she married a local grocer
named Earl P. Rand, with whom she had a son. They remained happily married
until a medical operation introduced her to Le Roi Goddard Crandon, a
prominent surgeon. She divorced Rand in 1918 and married Crandon a short
time later.

Crandon had no psychic experiences early in life and in
fact, had no interest in the spirit world at all until her husband became
interested in the early 1920’s. One evening in May 1923, Dr. Crandon
invited a number of friends to his home for a “home circle” meeting. The
group gathered around a small table and soon had it tilting in response to
the sitter’s questions. Crandon suggested that they each exit the room,
one at a time, to see which individual was responsible for the paranormal
activity. One by one, each of them left and the table continued to tilt --
until it was Mina Crandon’s turn to leave.

Mina "Margery" Crandon

Surprisingly, a few days before, a psychic had told Mina
that she possessed supernatural abilities and that she sensed a laughing young
man was attempting to contact Mina from the spirit world. The young man turned
out to be Mina’s brother, Walter, who had died in 1911 in a railway accident.
He would soon become Crandon’s spirit guide and, along with his sister, would
become famous all over the world.

In addition to the celebrity gained by Crandon’s ethereal
brother, Mina herself became well-known for her risqué and sometimes bizarre
séances. It was not uncommon for her to hold sessions in the nude and
according to some, she was especially adept at manifesting ectoplasm from her
vagina. It was also rumored that she had affairs with some of her would-be
investigators, thus silencing a few of her most vocal critics.

The first test of Mina’s psychic abilities took place in
July 1923 under the guidance of Gardner Murphy, William McDougall and a group
of Harvard graduate students and professors. When it was over, McDougall tried
unsuccessfully to get Crandon to admit to fraud. She refused.

An Obviously amused
Mina Crandon looks on as researcher J. Malcolm Bird is knocked to the
floor by an allegedly spirit controlled panel.

The panel questioned the reality of Crandon’s abilities
and it is likely that she would have faded into obscurity if not for the
contest that was sponsored by Scientific American magazine. The
contest was conceived by J. Malcolm Bird, an associate editor of the
magazine, and it promised a prize of $2500 to any medium who could show
genuine psychic ability. The judges were Walter Franklin Prince, an
American psychical researcher; Hereward Carrington, a popular occult
writer; Daniel Comstock, who introduced Technicolor to films; William
McDougall, a professor of psychology a Harvard University; and magician
and escape artist Harry Houdini.

The investigation, while it got a lot of press, was
essentially a disaster. It was soon noticeable to everyone that there was
a lot of friction between Houdini and the supporters of Margery, including
J. Malcolm Bird, who had been assigned to observe, organize and record the
investigation. Bird wanted Houdini disqualified from the panel and
proceeded to start the investigations without him. Soon, the committee was
deadlocked. Carrington and Bird believed that some genuine phenomena was
occurring in Margery's presence but the others refused to commit without
Houdini's opinion. At Bird's urging, they eventually relented and began to
consider awarding Margery the $2500.

Houdini was shocked and traveled to Boston to witness a
séance for himself. What happened next remains shrouded in mystery -- although
it is clear that Crandon did not trust Houdini and the magician himself had
stated that he was determined to expose the medium as a fraud. During the
sessions, Houdini claimed to have seen Margery performing a number of tricks
like making noises with her feet and lifting objects which were said to have
moved on their own. In spite of this, he did not expose her publicly and asked
that more stringent tests be performed. It was rumored that Margery had
somehow outwitted Houdini -- and rumors also flew that perhaps her powers were
genuine after all.

The following month, Houdini placed the medium in a wooden
box with a hole in the top for her head and holes on each side so that her
hands could be held during her entire séance. According to reports from the
session, Margery’s spirit control, Walter, took such a dislike to Houdini that
the top of the box was allegedly ripped off by an invisible force.

The séance continued the next evening and Margery was
placed back in the box. Shortly after she went into her trance and her spirit
guide came through, the committee asked that she ring the bell which had been
placed in the box with her. Immediately, Walter (the spirit guide) exclaimed
that Houdini had done something to the bell so that it would not ring. An
examination of the bell revealed that a piece of rubber had been wedged
against the clapper so that it would not ring! However, there was no proof
that Houdini has tampered with it.

A short time later, Walter also said that Houdini had
placed a ruler inside of the box so that he could later accuse Margery of
cheating. The ruler too was found and later, Houdini’s assistant would say
that he had been instructed to place it there in case Houdini could not find
another way to prove she was a fraud. It certainly appeared that Houdini had
been caught cheating and he was widely discredited for it, leading many to
doubt the integrity of some of his earlier investigations. In this case, the
committee scheduled further tests of Mrs. Crandon but they were later
cancelled. The decision on Margery’s abilities was split and because of this,
the money was never awarded. Houdini further outraged the Crandon's and their
supporters when he published a small book called Houdini Exposes the Tricks
Used by the Boston Medium Margery. He was as adamant about the fact that
Margery was doing nothing more than offering clever tricks as her supporters
were that what she was doing was genuine.

In
1925, J. Malcolm Bird published a book which supported Crandon and as research
officer of the American Society for Psychical Research, he was able to sway
many other ASPR members to her side. They became her greatest supporters and
devoted hundreds of pages in the ASPR journal to her séances.

It was during this period that Margery began to develop a
highly unusual manifestation that made her even more widely known in
Spiritualist circles. On the table in front of her during a séance would be
placed two dishes, one containing hot water and the other cold. In the first
dish was a piece of dental wax. When the wax was softened, it was claimed that
Walter (spirit guide again) would make an impression of his thumb on it --
then the thumbprint was put into cold water to harden. While it could not be
proved that the prints were actually those of Margery's dead brother, it was
proven that they did not belong to anyone present at the séance.

Thumbprints allegedly left by "Walter" turned out to be a match for
Margery's dentist.

Believers were enthralled by this new manifestation. It was
almost as if the spirit was leaving a calling card, even better. This, along
with the whole question of Margery's mediumship, caused a major upheaval in
Spiritualist circles. Unfortunately though, the suspicion of fraud never left
her and many became disillusioned when thumbprints supposedly impressed in wax
by Crandon’s ghostly brother Walter, were shown to be exact matches for the
thumbprints of Crandon’s dentist, Dr. Kerwin. Police experts testified that
there could be no mistake in this. The ruse was discovered when E.E. Dudley, a
former officer of the ASPR, began collecting thumbprints from every individual
ever known to have attended one of Margery's séances. Thanks to this, "Walter"
was demoted to the status of a disembodied voice only.

Many researchers today believe that some elements of the
paranormal were present in Crandon’s séances, but just what was genuine and
what was not remain unknown. Crandon and her husband were known for baiting
investigators and trying to fool them if possible. The ASPR sustained the
greatest amount of damage in the case, as the Crandon’s never seemed to care
who believed them and who did not. Just what secrets did Mina Crandon hold?
We’ll never know, because she took them to her grave in November of 1941.